2021 NBA Trade Deadline: 5 fire sales that should happen

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NBA trade deadline Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports /

Fire sale candidate No. 2: OKC Thunder

While these other teams are mostly too bad to do anything but blow it up, the OKC Thunder have displayed this nasty habit of being far too good for their own best interests. They sold off everything this past offseason, grabbing draft assets with every transaction.

However, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continued on his trajectory towards stardom, Al Horford has a new lease on life, Lu Dort is a monster, and a young core has suddenly elevated this team to heights it wasn’t supposed to achieve.

With an ungodly war chest of draft capital over the rest of the decade, it barely matters if the Thunder are able to tank this season away and enhance their own pick in the summer’s draft, but if they don’t have much of a chance at the playoffs, they might as well make the most of it. The Thunder are currently 12th in the West with a 14-20 record, 3.0 games behind the 10th-place Memphis Grizzlies.

The Thunder are motivated to move Horford if possible, as well as George Hill. They almost have too many young players to keep them all, for that matter, so they have options as to how deep they cut in this looming fire sale.